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Business Uncertainty And The Effectiveness Of Fiscal Policy In Germany

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  • Berg, Tim Oliver

Abstract

There are suggestions that increased uncertainty makes fiscal policy temporarily less effective. In this paper, I examine the relationship between business uncertainty and fiscal policy effectiveness in Germany. I use measures of business uncertainty that are derived from the firm-level data of the Ifo Business Climate Survey and interact them with the parameters of a structural vector autoregression to produce state-dependent spending multipliers. The impact of increased uncertainty on the spending multiplier is generally small and often statistically not significant in the short run. By contrast, I obtain a significant positive impact on the long-run multiplier. These baseline results are supported by a variety of robustness checks and specifications.

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  • Berg, Tim Oliver, 2019. "Business Uncertainty And The Effectiveness Of Fiscal Policy In Germany," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 1442-1470, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:macdyn:v:23:y:2019:i:04:p:1442-1470_00
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    Cited by:

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    2. Tervala, Juha & Watson, Timothy, 2022. "Hysteresis and fiscal stimulus in a recession," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa, 2021. "State-Dependent Effects of Tax Changes in Germany and the United Kingdom," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202125, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    4. Joscha Beckmann & Robert L Czudaj & Georgios Kouretas, 2021. "Fiscal policy uncertainty and its effects on the real economy: German evidence," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 73(4), pages 1516-1535.
    5. Christian Grimme, 2017. "Messung der Unternehmensunsicherheit in Deutschland – das ifo Streuungsmaß," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 70(15), pages 19-25, August.
    6. Bournakis Ioannis & Ramírez-Rondán Nelson R., 2024. "Does Uncertainty Matter for the Fiscal Consolidation and Investment Nexus?," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 529-559, January.
    7. Mr. Tidiane Kinda & Andras Lengyel & Kaustubh Chahande, 2022. "Fiscal Multipliers During Pandemics," IMF Working Papers 2022/149, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Goemans, Pascal, 2020. "Government Spending in Uncertain and Slack Times: Historical Evidence for Larger Fiscal Multipliers," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224642, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Lien, Donald & Sun, Yuchen & Zhang, Chengsi, 2021. "Uncertainty, confidence, and monetary policy in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1347-1358.
    10. Pascal Goemans, 2022. "Historical evidence for larger government spending multipliers in uncertain times than in slumps," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1164-1185, July.
    11. Funke, Michael & Terasa, Raphael, 2022. "Has Germany’s temporary VAT rates cut as part of the COVID-19 fiscal stimulus boosted growth?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 450-473.
    12. Christian Grimme & Magnus Reif & Timo Wollmershäuser, 2016. "Die Auswirkungen des britischen Votums für einen Brexit auf die deutsche Konjunktur 2016/17," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 69(13), pages 38-43, July.
    13. Michael Funke & Raphael Terasa, 2020. "Will Germany's Temporary VAT Tax Rates Cut as Part of the Covid-19 Fiscal Stimulus Package Boost Consumption and Growth?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8765, CESifo.
    14. Christian Grimme & Marc Stöckli, 2017. "Makroökonomische Unsicherheit in Deutschland," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 70(06), pages 41-50, March.
    15. Eduardo de Sá Fortes Leitão Rodrigues, 2021. "Uncertainty and Effectiveness of Public Consumption," Working Papers REM 2021/0180, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    16. Stefan Sauer & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2020. "ifo Handbuch der Konjunkturumfragen," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 88.
    17. Bach Nguyen & Christophe Schinckus & Nguyen Phuc Canh & Su Dinh Thanh, 2021. "Economic Policy Uncertainty and Entrepreneurship: A Bad for a Good?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 30(1), pages 81-133, March.

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    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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